What Meta told Delhi High Court to defend blocking of Harper's Bazaar India Instagram account

Meta Platforms on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that TV Today-owned Harper’s Bazaar India’s Instagram page was blocked to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules) after three copyright strikes..The social media company also contended that TV Today has suppressed material facts while challenging Meta's decision to block the @bazaarindia instagram page..Advocate Tejas Karia appeared for Meta today and argued before a Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora that the Harper's Bazaar India account was blocked after it failed to reply to Meta's emails regarding copyright strikes.“We did not block their account on the first strike. We removed those links… We deleted the account in March after they did not respond to our mails. We told them that their account was reported multiple times… They were aware of the copyright infringement strikes but they did not reply to us in four months,” Karia said.Karia added that TV Today was misusing the Court’s jurisdiction by seeking the restoration of its Instagram page under the garb of challenging Rule 3 (1) (c) of the IT Rules.He added that the appropriate avenue for TV Today was to file a civil suit against the entities who have alleged copyright violations..Notably, apart from seeking the restoration of the @bazaarindia Instagram page, TV Today's plea also challenges the constitutionality of Rule 3 (1) (c) of the IT Rules. TV Today has argued that Rule 3 (1)(c) allows an intermediary to block access to accounts without providing a fair opportunity for users to contest such a decision..During yesterday's hearing of the matter, the Court had remarked that Meta's functioning appeared to be worse than that of a government department, since that the tech giant had failed to properly reply to grievance queries sent earlier by TV Today. Meta maintained today that it was only complying with IT Rules which mandate that a social media intermediary must act on copyright infringement. “I am complying with the Rules and that is why the Court should protect me. The dispute is between A and B. I am only a platform. I am saying, 'please resolve your disputes.' If they resolve it, their page will be restored… We have shown utmost transparency in the matter,” Karia submitted. .The Court was further told that Meta has passed an order on Tuesday and also filed a reply before the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) constituted under the IT Rules, where TV Today’s appeal against the blocking of its page is pending.After considering the submissions, the Court asked TV Today to make its case before the GAC, which has been asked to decide on the matter within a week. .Meanwhile, Karia requested that the Court's earlier critical remarks against Meta not be made part of the Court's order.“It will affect our other cases also. We were not ready yesterday but today we have shown everything and we have not violated the law,” he said.The Court agreed to the request.It then listed TV Today’s challenge to the IT Rules along with the similar matter which will come up for hearing on August 14.